A Breath Of Fresh Air
by plainwhitets311
Summary: Takes place after Lucas gets dropped off by Rachel at Brooke’s apartment after the Fantasy Boy Draft Date. LucasNew Girl then eventually Brucas
1. Rivercourt Meetings

A Breath of Fresh Air

Summary: Takes place after Lucas gets dropped off by Rachel at Brooke's apartment after the Fantasy Boy Draft Date.

_Rivercourt meetings -chapter 1_

Lucas opens the door to Brooke's apartment after his Fantasy Boy Draft date with Rachel. He opens Brooke's bedroom door and sees her wake up as he walks in.

When they lock eyes, he just gives her a smile and shrugs his shoulders, as if to say, "  
I couldn't help myself from seeing you."

Brooke begins to sit up in her bed when Lucas sees Chris Keller's body rise up also, and put his arm across her body while smirking at Lucas. "Brooke?" Lucas says with pained eyes. "Luke, I can explain," Brooke says persistently as she gets out of bed and walks toward Lucas.

She reaches out to touch his arm and when she does, he pulls it back so quickly it's like she burned him with her touch. "Don't touch me!" Lucas exclaims.

Upon hearing this, Brooke's eyes well up with tears. "But Luke…" she says until Lucas cuts her off, "Don't Brooke, just, how could you do this? Especially with him?" he asks her, tears starting to form in his own eyes.

"It was a mistake Luke, I'm sorry!" she says as she tries to reach out for him arm again. "I said don't touch me!" He screams, as Brooke quickly retracts her hand from being near him again. "As a matter of fact Brooke, don't talk to me either. I don't want to hear your voice anymore."

"Luke," she says but once again, he cuts her off. "But hey Brooke, lets look at the upside of this," he says in his normal voice. "What are you talking about?" she says confused.

"You don't have to worry about getting too close to me or being exclusive because believe me, that's NEVER going to happen! Bye Brooke, have a good life," he says bitterly as he walks out of the room and slams the front door on his way out of the apartment.

Chris then walks up next to her after hearing the front door slam signaling Lucas' exit. "What have we done?" Brooke asks Chris while still staring at the door Lucas noisily retreated through.

"Well the question is, what haven't we done?" he asks cockily while moving his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.

"Chris, shut up! I just ruined my chances with the only guy I've ever loved, because of you!  
Why do you always have to screw up people's relationships? First Nathan and Haley's, now mine and Lucas'?"

"It's not my fault all the ladies want me," he says with a huge smirk on his face. "Shut the hell up Chris, just leave!" Brooke yells at him while going to various places in the room to pick up the clothes that had been thrown across the room in their drunken haze the previous night.

"Hey what are you doing with those," Chris asks Brooke. "Making you leave," Brooke says while smiling. "I was going to leave! Put my clothes down Brooke!" he says while following her through the living room toward the front door.

"Yeah, well, somehow, this gives me more satisfaction," she says as she walks outside the front door, walks to the edge of her apartment's overhang, and tosses his clothes over the railing. "Hope you can find them okay," she says while smiling at him just in his boxers, walking back into her apartment, closing the door and locking it in case he tries to come back in.

"Brooke, it's dark out here! How am I supposed to find my clothes?" he asks sounding worried. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. After all, you keep telling me how smart you are. Oh and watch your back, there tend to be coyotes out at night. Night Chris!" she says while turning off the porch light and going back to her room to try to think about how to try to get Lucas to forgive her.

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Meanwhile, Lucas had just slammed the front door out of Brooke's apartment, still not believing what he had just witnessed. Figuring even if it was about 4 in the morning, he needed to go to the river court to take out some of his aggression.

After practically sprinting all the way from Brooke's apartment, trying to get away from there as fast as he could, Lucas was pretty tired, and to top it all off, he hadn't had a wink of sleep and his heart was starting to hurt. He decides to lay on the court for a little while to think to himself.

"I can't believe she would do this to me, especially with the guy who almost ruined Nathan and Haley's marriage," he thinks to himself. After thinking for a while, he feels his eyes get heavy and before he can make a move to go home, he falls asleep in the middle of the court.

A few hours later, he wakes up hearing a basketball being dribbled on the court. He figures it's only about 6:30-  
7:00 because the sky wasn't very bright yet. Thinking Nathan would be the only one besides him up at the crack of dawn to play basketball he says "Don't you have anything better to do with yourself than play basketball?"

"No, not really," he hears a female voice say. Hearing this unfamiliar voice, he quickly rises to his feet and turns around to find a girl who looks to be around his age staring at him with a basketball in hand.

"Who are you?" he asks her. "The girl who just moved in the neighborhood. Who are you?" she asks him.  
"The guy who has lived here forever." he answers her. "Well do you have a name?" she asks. "I think I got one of those when I was born. Didn't you?" he asks playfully.

"How about this. If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine," she says to him while all the time smiling. "Fine. My name's Lucas Scott," he tells her. "Well Lucas Scott, my name is Emily, Emily Parker," she says.

"Well Emily, what are you doing out here so early in the morning?" Lucas asks her questioningly. "I moved in last night and couldn't sleep very well so when I woke up, I remembered seeing this court as I drove in and decided to come play a little." she explains.

"What about you? I saw you taking a little nap when I was coming up. Your not homeless are you," she asks jokingly. "Um no actually, just fell asleep I guess. But anyways, you play basketball?" he asks doubtingly.

"Yeah, don't I look like I play?" she asks while smiling at him. "Um no offense, but no, you don't." he says slowly.  
And she really didn't, she was about 5'8", blonde hair that was currently in a ponytail, blue eyes resembling his own,  
and he had to admit, a really nice body. (_an: Emily looks like Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On_)

"Well Scotty, can I call you Scotty? Good. I'm going to go since I didn't really tell my parents I was leaving the house so….if there not asleep when I get home, I might be in some trouble," she says all in one breath. "Sure, I better get home too, I haven't seen or talked to my mom since yesterday morning, so she's pretty much going to beat me when I get home," he says jokingly while smiling at her.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow," she says to him. (_an: I don't know which day of the week that the Fantasy date was on so I made it a Saturday night_) "I guess you will. Bye Emily," he says watching her start to walk away. "Bye Scotty," she says flirtatiously. Lucas watches her leave and shoots around for a couple minutes until he decides her better go home to face the wrath of his mom.


	2. Enough Talks for the day

Chapter 2 - Enough Talks for the Day 

As soon as Lucas walks into his room coming back from the Rivercourt, he is startled by his mom practically knocking the wind out of him as she hugs him as hard as she can.

"Lucas, sweetie! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need anything?" Karen asks worriedly to Lucas. "Mom I'm fine," he tells her trying to reassure her that he was fine. "Thank God," she says relieved. She then smacks him hard on his arm.

"Ow mom, what was that for? Did you want me to be hurt? God," he says, his arm still stinging.  
"Where were you that didn't have a phone because I'm pretty sure you have a cell phone. And I could be wrong, but all your friends have cell phones too don't they?" Karen asks him pointedly.

"Yeah. I'm sorry mom but I didn't have a good night, so I went to the Rivercourt to try and chill out and I guess I was more tired then I thought and I fell asleep. As soon as I woke up I came straight home," he tells her sincerely, conveniently leaving out the part when he met Emily.

"You promise that's all that happened," she asks him. "Yes mom. I didn't get into any trouble, I promise," he replies. "Alright, but if this happens again, your grounded. Got it?" she explains.

"Yes mam," he says as he salutes her. "Enough of that," she says jokingly. "So, sweetie, why the bad night? Didn't your date with Rachel go well?" she asks. "Yeah, that was, well, interesting, but nothing too bad," he tells her. "Then what happened?" she asks concerned.

"Mom, you know I love you, but I'd rather not talk about it," he tells her nicely. Seeing that it is a sore spot for him, she decides to let it go for now. "Fine sweetie. But promise me if you want to talk about it you'll come to me. I'd be happy to help," she assures him.

"Of course mom. I could never pass up free mom advice when needed. I just have to think some things through right now," he tells her. "Alright. I better set up the cafe. Will you come by later?" she asks him.  
"Sure. Bye mom," he says as she walks out of his door to the outside world. "Bye," she says, her footsteps fading away.

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Brooke is laying on her couch waiting for Peyton and Haley to come over. She had called them about 10 minutes ago telling them to come over as soon as they could and to bring Ben and Jerry's with them.  
Ever since Lucas left, she hadn't been able to go back to sleep. She had spent too much time thinking about the terrible thing she had done to Lucas.

5 minutes later the doorbell rang, and just as quickly as it rang, they busted through the door looking worried to see what they'd find. "Brooke! What's wrong? Why wouldn't you tell us anything over the phone?" Haley says worriedly.

"I'm fine. Well, physically anyways," Brooke say says solemnly. Peyton takes out the Ben and Jerry's,  
one miniature tub for each of them, grabs the spoons, and pulls all of them onto the couch. "Alright Brooke, what happened that's got you looking so sad," Peyton asks.

"Okay, you guys have to promise not to yell at me or criticize me or anything when I tell you this," Brooke tells them. "Yeah. Of course," Peyton and Haley say.

"Okay, so you guys know I had that "date" thing last night with Chris. Well I was really excited about my sketches, and Chris was being so sweet for once, and I was really drunk, and something happened"  
Brooke says hesitantly.

"Well...what happened," Peyton says afraid of the answer. Brooke then mumbles something incoherent so that neither Peyton nor Haley could understand her. "What?" Haley asks, "Speak up." "Well the thing is..." Brooke says still stalling. "WHAT Brooke? Out with it, I'm growing wrinkles," Peyton says impatiently.

"I slept with Chris," she finally says, looking down at her hands in shame of her action. "YOU DID WHAT"  
they both scream at her. "How could you do this to Lucas?" Haley says worried about what her best friend's reaction will be like when he finds out. "Um...that's not the worst of it," Brooke says disappointed in herself.

"What could be worse than that?" Peyton asks disbelieving. "Lucas kind of walked in and saw Chris in my bed with me," Brooke says, tears beginning to well in her eyes at having to re-live the memories of it all over again.  
"Oh my god. What did he say," Peyton asks, worried about Lucas's condition.

"He told me that 'I didn't have to worry about us being exclusive because that was never going to happen'  
Oh yeah, and he basically told me he was never going to talk to me again," Brooke says, slowly sliding into her depressed mood again.

"Where did he go," Haley asks standing up. "I don't know, he just stormed out, not that I blame him, I wouldn't want to look at me either," Brooke tells Haley. "Alright, I have to go find him. He probably needs someone to talk to," Haley says, also worried about Lucas.

"Haley," Brooke says before she leaves the apartment, "Are you mad at me?" she questions Haley. Haley turns towards Brooke. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just not happy about what happened," Haley explains to her. "Believe me. me neither. I can't even look at my self," she tells her.

"Don't worry, you'll bounce back. After all, your nickname is Tigger for a reason," Haley tells her giving her a small smile. "Thanks Haley. Just, make sure Lucas is alright for me. Keep an eye on him," she requests to Haley.  
"Of course, he's my best friend. This is what I'm here for," she tells Brooke, and then turns to Peyton. "Keep an eye on her, that's your job," she tells Peyton jokingly. "Yes sergeant," she says to Haley who shuts the door on her way out to find Lucas.

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Lucas is still in his room, and unfortunately, can't stop thinking about what Brooke did to him. Then, he hears a knock on his door and immediately responds, "Go away." "Luke, it's me," Haley responds. "I'm coming," Luke tells her. He gets out from under his covers and unlocks his own personal door from outside.

"I just heard Luke, I'm so sorry," she tells him and gives him a big hug. "God, is it already floating around town?  
That didn't take long," he says not surprised at the quickness that news spreads in this town. "No actually, Brooke told me when me and Peyton went over," Haley tells him.

"Ahh. The betrayer herself. How is she? I'm hoping not well," Lucas says bitterly. "Luke, she feels really bad"  
Haley tells him. "Good. She should feel like that. As much pain as I put her through when I cheated on her, you'd think she wouldn't wish it on anyone else, especially me," he says angrily.

"Listen Luke, she knows she made a mistake, okay? Just talk to her," she tries to reason with him. "No Haley, at least not now. I can't even look at her," he tells her. "Luke just promise me you'll think about it," she says to him.  
"Fine, I'll think about it, happy?" he responds.

"So, how went your date with Nathan?" he asks her, glad for the distraction from his own problems. Luckily, he was a subject that Haley was glad to steer the conversation to. "Well, besides Chris and Brooke moving in on the romantic evening I had planned, finding out my wedding site had been torn down, Nathan playing video games the whole time, Chris stealing coins out of the mall water fountain, and Nathan almost beating up Chris for hitting on me, it turned out really well," Haley says to him.

"Well, it sounds like you had an eventful evening. I'm sorry about your wedding site, but at least it turned out for the best"  
Luke says to her. "Yep. Well, do you need me for anything else or am I relieved from my duties for the day?" Haley asks him jokingly.

"You can leave, I know I'm not the most fun person to be around today," He tells her. "But seriously, do you need anything at all?" she questions him. "I'm fine. I kind of want to be alone right know anyways, but thanks for checking up on me," he tells her, grateful for her company.

"Of course, I guess I will see you in school tomorrow?" she asks him. "Yep. I'll see you then. Bye Hales," she tells her as she goes to exit his room. "Later Gator," she says, and leaves his room. 'Well', Lucas thinks to himself, 'I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.' After some thinking, that he tried to prolong, he fell into a much needed sleep, dreaming about what the school day tomorrow would hold.

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	3. School Run In's

Chapter 3 - School Run-In's

Lucas woke up Monday to the sound of his alarm going off in his ear very loudly. "What the hell," he says, angry that the alarm disturbed his much needed sleep. "Uhh," he groaned, not looking forward to his upcoming school day.

After this shower and getting dressed into some khaki tan shorts and a bright blue t-shirt that brought out the color of his eyes. But, of course, he didn't know that. After all, he was a guy.  
Lucas walked into the kitchen to see his mom making some toast for him.

"Hey mom," he says to her. "Hey sweetie," she replies, "feeling better this morning?" "Not really"  
he replies sadly. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" she asks him. "I'm sure," he tells her reassuringly. "Alright, but I'm here if you need me," she tells him.

"I know mom. Well. I better go or I'll be late," he says to her, but thinking that being late sounded great if he didn't have to run into Brooke. "Okay. Bye sweetie," she replies as Lucas walks out the front door.

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Brooke is at her locker before homeroom, hoping to see a glimpse of Lucas before class, and maybe get the chance to try and talk to him alone.

"Hey B. Davis," Peyton says to her as she walks up to Brooke's locker to talk to her. Hey," Brooke replies solemnly. "How you holding up?" Peyton asks her. "How do you think?" Brooke says. "Okay,  
change of subject. Did you hear about the new girl," she asks Brooke.

"No, and I honestly don't care about her," she says to Peyton. "What? Are you kidding? You'd usually be all over this by now. Ya know, her background, if she cheerleads. Why don't you care?" Peyton asks her confused at Brooke's nonchalant attitude towards a major piece of gossip.

"Right now, the only thing I care about is Lucas and I's relationship, or lack thereof," she tells Peyton.  
"If you say so. Well, you want to head to class?" Peyton asks her. "Nahh, you go ahead, I'm gonna try to talk to Lucas," she tells her.

"Kay. Good luck," she replies, leaving as she sees someone else to talk to since Brooke wasn't much fun today, not that she could blame her. After Peyton left, Brooke decided to keep standing in the hallway that Luke should of been coming down to go to his first period.

'Oh look, there's the new girl, 'Brooke thought to herself as she saw who must have been the new girl, considering she'd never seen her around before, and she was sure she wouldn't forget a girl that was as pretty as her. 'Mmm. Maybe we'll be friends,' she thinks to herself again. The girl then passed herself to go down the hallway that Luke was gonna be coming from anytime now.

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Meanwhile, Lucas had just finished going to his locker, and started going to his first period class, surprised that no one had been looking at him differently. 'I guess no ones heard yet, thank god,' he says to himself.

Lucas was so lost in thought that he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, and when he turned the corner to go to his first period class, he ran into someone, both their books falling out of their hands. "Oh god, I'm so sorry," he hears a kind of familiar voice say.

"No, it was my fault. I wasn't really paying attention," he tells her apologetically. Then, when he finally looks up, he finally fits the face to the familiar voice he heard. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Emily Parker," he says to her smiling.

She then looks up also. "Who do we have here? Scotty, is it?" she asks him playfully. "So, it seemed like you were in kind of a hurry," he told her. "Well, I have no clue where I'm going, and the only people I've talked to today are jocks that I've threatened to hurt if they didn't keep their hands away from me," she tells him, mad at the annoying behavior of some of the kids in this school.

"I can help you out then. And I'll be sure to keep my hands away from you, maybe," he says to her flirtatiously.  
"Maybe I don't want you to," he says to her, equally playfully. "Let me see you schedule," he tells her. "Sure"  
she replies.

"Well, it turns out you should be glad we ran into into each other, because you are in my first class, and you were going in the complete opposite direction," he tells her. "Well' I'm always up to running into a cute boy," she tells him. Lucas blushes. "Scotty, did you just blush?" she asks him, thinking it was cute that she could make a hot guy like him blush.

"Be quiet. Come on, I'll walk you to class," he tells her as he casually puts his arm around her shoulders and starts walking her to class with him. "Fine, if you must," she says, acting as if she didn't like having Luke put his warm arm around her small body. "I must," he says smiling at her. She smiles back, and they disappear around the corner towards their class.

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Brooke couldn't believe her eyes. She had just seen and heard the new girl, apparently her name was Emily, and Lucas's whole conversation. Apparently they knew each other somehow. Which is weird since she and Lucas were friends with all the same people, and she didn't know how Lucas couldn't know someone, especially a girl, that she didn't.

Their little 'overly friendly' interaction had made Brooke insanely jealous. 'Okay, I really need to talk to him,' she thinks to herself. 'At lunch,' she tells herself. After standing there for a minute longer, she turned around and headed to her first period class, hoping that the day would go by fast so she could talk to Lucas. 'We'll see,' she thinks.  
'We'll see'  
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	4. Lunch Brawl

Chapter 4 - Lunch Brawl

Lucas had just finished the first half of his day, and had been lucky enough to not have to run into Brooke yet. What really surprised him though was that Emily and he had been in almost every single class together.

He walked outside to look for Haley so they could eat together like always. Hopefully Brooke would get hint that he didn't want to talk to her, by the fact that he took all the routes around school so he wouldn't have to run into each other.

He then remembered that Emily had this lunch also, and hoped that she didn't have anyone else to eat with yet so that they could eat together. Not that he didn't want her to have friends, he just wanted to get to know more about her.

He felt a small tap on his shoulder, and turned around thinking it would be Haley or Emily. But, when he turned around, he saw the last person he wanted to see right then.

"Brooke..." he said disinterested, "what do you want?" he asked her. "I thought we could talk about what happened," she said hopefully. "Brooke, I told you, you're free from me. You don't have to talk to me okay," he said to her bitterly.

"Lucas, could you just listen to me?" she asked him. Just then, he heard a bunch of guys laughing and looked over Brooke's shoulder to try to see what was happening. That was when he saw Emily being hit on by a lot of the guys on the football team, and she didn't look like she was enjoying it one bit.

"What Brooke?" he said. "What is so important?" he asked her. "I just want to apologize to you for what happened with Chris. It was a drunken mistake, and I was happy about something, and all I could think about was you on your date with Rachel, having a good time, and I guess I just wasn't thinking clearly," she told him in one breath.

"So what, you were drunk, and that's supposed to excuse your actions?" he asked her bitterly. "Luke, you're not listening, I'm not saying that. I'm just trying to apologize, and hope that maybe we can friends again one day," she said to him.

After that little speech, she looked up to him, and saw that he hadn't heard one word that she had just said.  
He was looking behind her shoulder, with an angry expression on his face. She turned around to see what he was looking at, and saw that that girl Emily was being harassed buy the football guys, and she looked like she was about to cry.

He then stormed off towards the direction where the commotion was taking place, leaving Brooke alone. As he walked up to the football guys and Emily, he caught the tail end of their conversation. "Come on," one guy said to her, "you know you want this," the guy said teasing her.

"Yeah sweet cheeks," another guy named Mac said. "How bout we get out of this place and go somewhere a little more private," he said to her, while grabbing her hand and trying to pull her towards the parking lot. "Get off me," she said to Mac, worried about what this guy was gonna try to do to her."

This was the last straw for Lucas. "Hey," he said to Mac, "what do you think you're doing?" "Well, well, well, if it isn't sporty spice himself, Mr. Lucas Scott," he said to Lucas. "Get off her Mac. She obliviously doesn't want what you're trying to give her," he said to Mac.

"And you think she wants you? Alright sweetie, let's see who you wanna be with. You wanna stay with me, a real man, or sporty spice over there?" he asks her. She then starts to walk towards Lucas, until Mac yanks her back by her arm when he sees that she was gonna go to Lucas. "Ow!" she screamed in pain, "That hurts!"

"Wrong choice babe, now this is gonna happen," he said to her, and made a motion to hit her when Lucas stepped in and punched Mac in the face. "What the hell is your problem man? Why are you trying to hit a girl"  
he screams at Mac, who is slowly rising off the ground, for the impact of Lucas' fist made him fall to the ground.

"Dude, chill. Just trying to have a little fun. She wanted it, didn't you hun? She puts out more then your ex did," he said cockily. Lucas didn't know if it was the remark about Emily or Brooke that made him snap again, but when he heard what Mac had said, he went up and punched him in the face again. "Luke stop," Emily said worried about Luke.

At this point, this is when Mac's friends started to step in to ensure he didn't get the shit beat out of him in front of most of the school that had come outside when they heard that a fight was about to go down. "I don't think so," said one of Mac's friends, before he punched Lucas right in the jaw, which Lucas quickly reciprocated.

The fight quickly escalated into about 4 guys all on Lucas. Nathan then showed up, as well as some guys on the basketball team to try and help Lucas out. About a minute later, the principle and the in-school policemen showed up to break the fight up.

"Cool it!" the principle yelled. "You all either scram now, or you're all going to the office, and I mean NOW!" the principle yelled, mad at the behavior of these students. When everyone started to scatter to where ever they had been, Emily made her way over to Lucas to help him up off the ground.

"Luke! Are you okay? Why did you do that?" she asked him. "I wasn't gonna let them harass you like that, I didn't want you to get hurt," he told her. "Let's just go home okay? I'll get you cleaned up. It's the least I can do to thank you for defending my honor," she told him playfully.

This is the point when Brooke came over, along with Haley and Peyton who had gathered during the fight, and Nathan, who had went over to Haley right after the fight had ended. "Luke! Are you okay," he got asked again, this time from Haley, for what felt like the thousandth time in the past 3 days. "Yeah, I'll live," he said

"This probably isn't the best time for introductions, but everyone, this is my new friend Emily. She moved here a few days ago," he told everyone. "Hey," everyone except Brooke said, who was jealous that Luke had gotten into an all out brawl for this Emily girl, and had totally left her by herself.

"Hey Nate, thanks for having my back," he said to Nathan as they pounded fists. "Anytime man," Nathan replied. "Alright guys, I'm gonna head out, I don't really feel like being here right now," Lucas told everyone. "You need me to come with you?" Brooke asked, hoping that he would say yes so she could talk to him, and get to spend some alone time with him, since their conversation had never really ended.

"No thanks, Emily's gonna come back to my house and help me get cleaned up. See you guys later," he said to everyone."Later," they said. Lucas and Emily then walked down to the parking lot towards Lucas's car, leaving Brooke to watch them leave together.

"It's alright Brooke, you just need to give him some time," said Haley. "Yeah, okay," she said sadly, as she watched Lucas' car pull away, as well as the hope that her and him would be alright. 'I guess I'll just have to wait till later to call him' she says to herself, as the gang and herself walk back into school to continue their school day, considering they had all just wasted their lunch period watching the fight. Wooo!

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